Building or roofing block or material.



ivo. 740,696.

UNITED Patented September 29, 1903:.'

PATENT OFFICE.

ulLDnuevoR RooKl-'INQBLOCK 0R MATERIAL.

SEECIFICATION forming part of 41..ettersIEatent No. 740,099, dated September 29, 1903.

K Application filed October 16, 1902. Serial No. 127.592. (No model.) I

To all whom t may concern,.-

, Be it known that I, SILAs C: DAVIDSON, a

citizen of the United States of America; residwhere at hand, and which material or buildingblock is absolutely impervious to water and hence will not freeze.

Other objects are to furnish a material or building or roofing block which will remain unaffected by atmospheric heat, having strength,durability, and elasticity, and which is practically ireproof.

Another object is the provision of a building or rooiing block which can be remolded, if desired, even after having been in use for years.

Another obj ect is the formation of an ornamental or other face upon the building or roofing block during its manufacture. l

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of a building or rooiing block constructed in accordance with my in' vention, and Fig. 2 is a view in cross-section thereof.

The building'or roofing blocks may be composed of any one or all of a variety of ingredientssuch as common earth, dirt, gravel, clay, sand, cinders, ashes, clinkers, crushed rock, slag--which ingredient or ingredients are caused to adhere or cohere by means of coal-tar, the latter being employed as a binding agent.

In proceeding with themanufacture of my improvement I saturate a quantity of common dirt or earth with enough coal-tar to form a very stiff mixture or, in other words, to make the resultant mixture cohere. In commingling the above-n amed ingredients I heat the entire mixture to a point where it will blaze from its own heat-say at about 160C- stirring to thoroughly mix the ingredients while heating.

In practice I have found that about eightymaterial employed.

is placedin the molds while hot and compressed with Va pressure of about one hundred pounds to the square inch. This forms a very dense block which may be laid while hot, and

by so doing vthe blocks will cohere to one/another 4without the use of mortar or other adhesive agent, thus forming a solid structure. It will be understood that the percentage of coal-tar or other binding agent-such as crude coal-oil, asphalt, or pine-tar, which may also be utilizedvaries with the filling or body The proportions given refer to common dirt or learth and coal-tar.

In manyinstances it is desirable to employ an ornamental or colored face brick and in pursuance of this idea I proceed as follows: After obtaining the mixture as above set forth I iill the molds nearly full therewith and iill the remaining space in the molds with YaV mixture comprising about seventy Y percent. of'sand orv dirt, fifteen per cent. of any preferred coloring agent, and iifteen per cent. of hard rosin, which ingredients are heated and commingled in a suitable receptacle separate from that in which the body ofthe brick is mixed. The molds thus iilled are placed under pressure, and as a result I produce a building o r roofing block which is harder than the ordinary burned brick and costs about one-half as much.

It willbe noted that I use butasingle binding agent in combination with any sort of dirt or earthy matter, that my invention is very simple, and that the building-blocks are easily constructed. 1

I am aware that it is old to mold the material while hot, that it is old to unite the blocks so constructed with a mortar comprising the same ingredientsas do the blocks, and -I am also aware that composition blocks have been formed of a number of binding agents combined with a number of ingredients forming the body thereof but I am not aware of any patent wherein any single filling ingredient, such as common earth, has been formed into a brick by means of a single binding agentsuch as coal-tar, for instance-nor am I aware that with a brick so constructed has been combined an ornamental or color face, as set forth. Y

It is evident that there is aWide range of choice of binding agents and fillers which might be used, as herein set forth, and consesequently I do not wish to limit myself to any particular ingredients. I attain the desired result by the use of any of the above-named ingredients by properly proportioning them before moldinginto building or roofing blocks which are compressed and laid While hot, and being thus compressed at a time when they are much hotter than they Will ever become by reason of sun or atmospheric heat I overcome the laws of contraction and expansion.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. A building and roofing block comprising a body portion composed of a illiug material, a binding agent, and a color face composed of a mixture of hard rosin, common dirt and coloring means.

2. A building or roofing block, comprising a body portion consisting of earthy matter or dirt and coal-tar and a face portion consisting of sand or dirt, rosin and coloring-matter.

3. A building or roofing block consisting of a body portion comprising eighty-five to ninety per cent. of earthy matter or dirt and ten to fifteen per cent. of coal-tar and a face portion comprising about seventy percent. of sand or dirt, about fteen per cent. of coloring-matter and about fifteen per cent. of rosin. y

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses. i

' SIIJAS C. DAVIDSON.

1 VVtnesses:

B. F. FITZPATRICK, J E. CUNNINGHAM. 

